Cleopatra — Volume 07 eBook

CHAPTER XVII.

Cleopatra had sought the venerable Anubis, who now,
as the priest of Alexander, at the age of eighty,
ruled the whole hierarchy of the country. It
was difficult for him to leave his arm-chair, but he
had been carried to the observatory to examine the
adverse result of the observation made by the Queen
herself. The position of the stars, however,
had been so unfavourable that the more deeply Cleopatra
entered into these matters, the less easy he found
it to urge the mitigating influences of distant planets,
which he had at first pointed out.

In his reception-hall, however, the chief priest had
assured her that the independence of Egypt and the
safety of her own person lay in her hands; only—­the
planets showed this—­a terrible sacrifice
was required—­a sacrifice of which his dignity,
his eighty years, and his love for her alike forbade
him to speak. Cleopatra was accustomed to hear
these mysterious sayings from his lips, and interpreted
them in her own way. Many motives had induced
her to seek the venerable prelate at this late hour.
In difficult situations he had often aided her with
good counsel; but this time she was not led to him
by the magic cup of Nektanebus, which the eight pastophori
who accompanied it had that day restored to the temple,
for since the battle of Actium the superb vessel had
been a source of constant anxiety to her.

Cleopatra had now asked the teacher of her childhood
the direct question whether the cup—­a wide,
shallow vessel, with a flat, polished bottom could
really have induced Antony to leave the battle and
follow her ere the victory was decided. She
had used it just before the conflict between the galleys,
and this circumstance led Anubis to answer positively
in the affirmative.

Long ago the marvellous chalice had been exhibited
to her among the temple treasures, and she was told
that every one who induced another person to be reflected
from its shining surface obtained the mastery over
his will. Her wish to possess it, however, was
not gratified, and she did not ask for it again until
the limitless devotion and ardent love of Antony had
seemed less fervent than of yore. From that time
she had never ceased to urge her aged friend to place
the wondrous cup in her keeping. At first he
had absolutely refused, predicting that its use would
bring misfortune upon her; but when her request was
followed by an imperative command, and the goblet
was entrusted to her, Anubis himself believed that
this one vessel did possess the magic power attributed
to it. He deemed that the drinking-cup afforded
the strongest proof of the magic art, far transcending
human ability, of the great goddess by whose aid King
Nektanebus—­who, according to tradition,
was the father of Alexander the Great—­was
said to have made the vessel in the Isis island of
Philoe.